**Chelsea legend Claude Makelele has backed his former club to “fight for the title this season.”**
The Blues are 8 points adrift of league leaders Arsenal, but Makelele claims that Enzo Maresca’s squad is just as talented as European champions Paris Saint-Germain, and they have the ability to compete on all fronts:
“The quality is there, Chelsea have a young team full of talent. They’re starting to demonstrate that they can compete in the Premier League for many years.”
“I think Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain have anticipated this kind of project gives you a platform and it will be a success. I think they will fight for the title this season because they look focused.”
“We will see about the Champions League, which is different but they need to be competitive like Arsenal were last year.”
The bookmakers don’t give great odds for Chelsea finishing top of the table. The shortest price you will get is 33/1.
Maresca’s men have simply been too inconsistent, with their form at home (in particular), having let them down. They have already lost twice at Stamford Bridge, with defeats to Brighton and Sunderland.
While a top-four finish is definitely firmly in their grasp, they would need [**Arsenal**](https://chelseanews.com/blog/chelsea-news-arsenal-joe-cole/) to go through a terrible patch of form to get themselves back in the title race.
Can Chelsea compete on the European stage?
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As the Club World Cup showed, this group of players can go toe-to-toe with the very best in the world on their day.
They have also started the league phase of the Champions League in decent form, having beaten Benfica and Ajax after losing to Bayern Munich in their opening fixture. They will also be hoping to secure the three points when they face Qarabag FK on Wednesday night.
[**Read more about the Chelsea First Team Squad for 2025/26 here**](https://chelseanews.com/blog/chelsea-first-team-squad/)